Sony WH1000XM3 Noise Cancelling Headphones, Wireless Bluetooth Over the Ear Headset – Black (2018 Version)

I currently own about 30 headphones of various brands and types. I have tried many Bluetooth headphones and own the Bose QC35 II and Bowers and Wilkins PX. I bought both the Sony WH-1000x MKI & MKII but returned them after weighing the shortcomings vs the cost, my main complaints being comfort and sound (the ANC was always good). My portable-everyday-beat-them-up headphones were the Bose QC 35 II. I liked them primarily for the comfort and ANC. The sound on the Bose can best be described as adequate but generally lifeless. Always in search of something better I read a couple of “First Look” articles about the Sony WH-MX1000M3 and decided to pull the plug on the first day that they were available on Amazon. When I received the Sony’s I was pleased to see that the case was similar to the Bose QC 35, a little bigger but shaped well enough to fit comfortably in my backpack. When I removed the headphones and put them on my head I realized immediately that these would be as comfortable as the Bose. Good job Sony.After charging for a couple of hours I paired them to my phone and went to my headphone test playlist on Spotify. My main complaint with the previous Sony model's sound was that they had very little soundstage (defined as perceived distance between your ears and the music) and little definition (defined as the clarity and separation of the various instruments in a piece of music). The M3 sounded better than the previous Sony’s and better than the Bose, but the highs appeared to be quite subdued and overwhelmed by the bass. This was disappointing.But, Sony has a phone app that allows for EQ so I go download the app. Frustration. The app did not recognize the MK3. Patience. I figure that Sony has not updated the app yet. So I wait a day and see that the Sony app has automatically updated on my phone. I open and hurray! It is recognizing the MK3 now. Now I can play with EQ: -1 on 400 Hz. +1 on 1K. +2 on 2.5K. +3 on 6K. +4 on 16K and “Clear Bass” remains at 0. Play music and now were talking! I’m not going to say that these sound nearly as good as most of my wired headphones, but for everyday-on-the-go-beat-them-up-with-ANC these are exciting. They blow the Bose away. The Bowers and Wilkins PX which weigh about three times more than the Sony’s have decent BT sound when the ANC is off but the sound changes considerably and not for the better when you apply one of three ANC modes. They PX is OK for about an hour of no ANC listening while sitting at home, but after that my ears and the top of my head hurt.The noise cancellation of the Sony is a generation ahead of Bose. There, I said it. Most reviewers crown the Bose as the best ANC you can get. Well, Sony has just showed Bose that they are the new big boy on the block. I did some A/B comparisons with both headphones and realized that the Sony not only cancels steady noise like jet engines or the sound of the air conditioning intake in my condo, but it does a great job of virtually eliminating all other sounds, including television voices and even other people, as my wife can attest to when she had to stand in front of me and wave her hands to get my attention because I could not hear her talking (so, if you want to block out your wife’s talking… LOL!). And this is without even messing with the settings in the app. Others reviewer here have not had the same experience, stating that it does not cancel voices. I frankly did not expect it to cancel voices, but I must say that the Sony comes as close as anything I have ever not heard.So, if you want very comfortable headphones with the best sound and Active Noise Cancelling that you can expect with wireless Bluetooth in 2018 get these. They will not sound as good as wired closed back or open back headphones, but “you can’t always get what you want”, “nothing is perfect”, and “everybody is different”.In addition to the Sony WH-1000XM3 during this review period I used:Bose QC 35 IIBowers & Wilkins PXBang and Olufsen H6 (wired)Sennheiser HD650 (wired)AKG 7KXX (wired)SpotifyFlac files on phone and desktop computerUPDATE 2018-09-21: I did experience an issue with phone calls where people at the other end were hearing an echo of their voice. I tested the headphones with three different phones and the problem occurred with all three. So I replaced them through Amazon. I am glad to say that the new pair does not have the issue. After some tests with phone calls I will say that Sony still needs to do some work on the call quality at the other end of the call (the call sounds fine in the Sony itself). In this regard, the Bose QC 35 is better. I think the call quality is really with the sound processing that Sony has implemented and not the hardware. Hopefully this will be improved in future firmware upgrades. Another minor con that the Bose handles better is the support for multiple BT sources. But this is a minor annoyance and I only use the Sony's for my phone anyway, so I am not constantly switching sources. Small price to pay for better ANC and musical sound.

I was in the market for a pair of headphones, and looking at the Bose QCII and XM3s (which I honestly found from googling and seeing which reviewers recommended, I'm in no way an expert on headphones).Most reviews led me to believe the XM3s were the way to go, but I saw a ton of reviews on Amazon that called out really awful features/issues. Some commentary on things I was worried about:"Headphones beep and turn off after 5 minutes of not using" - This is a setting you can easily disable in the app. Like super easy. You should probably ignore any review where someone complains about that (lol), because it is honestly a very easy and quick setting to change, and is not hidden at all. I have not had any issues with my headphones beeping."The microphone is awful." - I don't use these often on calls, but I've been told my sound was good on the few calls I have used these on."Battery life is bad." - I haven't intentionally tried to run these down to a 0 battery to see how long they last, but I used these constantly in the first week I got them, and didn't charge them all week. My battery life has been fine."The touchpad is bad." It sounds like there are some legitimate concerns with using it in cold weather, but it's May so I haven't had a chance to test that. In general, the touchpad on the right here has been great. It took me a little getting used to on the first day, but since then I haven't accidentally paused it or changed tracks while trying to change the volume, or vice versa. The touchpad has worked great (but again, I've only tested it in warm conditions). I listen to a lot of audiobooks around the house so I pause a lot when my wife talks to me, and the doubletap to pause is very handy. The "hold the ear" feature to enhance the mic works well.Google assistant - haven't used it yet, will update if I do."These were very difficult to get to sync". I've only linked these to my Pixel 2, but the process was quick and easy. I have not tr"Sound quality is bad with X." Sound quality has been great music, audiobooks, and podcasts so far. I like to leave the headphones on the "Bright" EQ for everything I listen to. The surround sound mode is awesome for music, but is very weird for podcasts/videos, so I generally only use surround sound for music."Build quality is bad". I haven't owned many pairs of headphones like this, but the build quality seems at least as good as previous pairs of Beats or Sennheiser headphones I've owned. Nevertheless, I went ahead and paid $30 for the 3 year Azurion warranty with Amazon, and plan to use that if there is ever an issue.Other thoughts:-Headphone range is good. I have not disconnected due to range a single time, and I've walked around my entire house (~1000 sqft) with these connected to my phone via bluetooth and my phone charging in another room.-USB-C is great. So glad I don't have to use some janky old cable.-Sound quality is good over bluetooth. I am definitely not an expert on sound quality, but I've primarily used these over bluetooth and have been consistently pleased with the sound quality.-Headphones are generally comfortable. My ears do not get hot or sweat at all when I wear these indoors. I've worn them on a couple walks outdoors in the Texas heat, and as you'd expect, they get a bit warmer and sweatier, but I would be shocked if they didn't. I think i have a medium to large sized head, and I don't get tired of wearing them.-Using ANC took some getting used to. I've never had a noise cancelling headphones before, so it did take a few days to adjust and feel like there wasn't pressure on my ears.-The "optimizer" in the app. I'm not sure how much this actually optimized the noise cancelling for my ears, but it seemed like a cool feature if it did work.Overall, I've had a great experience with these headphones so far. If you're like me and you read all the 1 star reviews before purchasing, take some of them with a grain of salt because a lot people clearly didn't even try to learn how to use their headphones, and complain about things they can change.